Dead Men Tell (1941)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Harry Lachman

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (characters)
John Larkin (writer)

Release Date:

28 March 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Aboard a treasure ship Chan battles his most elusive adversary... the ghost of a pirate 100 years dead!

Plot:

A treasure map in four pieces, the ghost of a hanged pirate, a talking parrot, and a shipful of red herrings complicate Charlie's search for a murderer on board a treasure cruise.

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Red Herring | Treasure Map | Neurotic | Psychiatrist

Cast

Sidney Toler	...	Charlie Chan
Sheila Ryan	...	Kate Ransome
Robert Weldon	...	Steve Daniels
Victor Sen Yung	...	Jimmy Chan (#2 son) (as Sen Yung)
Donald Douglas	...	Jed Thomasson (as Don Douglas)
Kay Aldridge	...	Laura Thursday (as Katharine Aldridge)
Paul McGrath	...	Charles Thursday / Mr. Parks
George Reeves	...	Bill Lydig
Truman Bradley	...	Capt. Kane of the Suva Star
Ethel Griffies	...	Miss Patience Nodbury
Lenita Lane	...	Dr. Anne Bonney
Milton Parsons	...	Gene LaFarge

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Jimmy Chan: Hey, Pop, you're not gonna swallow that story, are you?
Charlie Chan: Swallow much, but digest little,

Movie Connections:

Follows Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1937)

Ghosts and Red Herrings

An agreeable entry in the Charlie Chan series, this is an extremely well-made little movie, directed by Harry Lachman, and featuring some striking shots of an old pirate vessel in port and a tough waterfront dive. It's all cliches, nicely cobbled together, and served up with good humor by actors who don't seem to be taking themselves too seriously. Sidney Toler makes an agreeably phlegmatic and dignified Chan; while Sen Yung's Number Two Son gets into his usual hot water,--in this case actually sea water--as he tries to bail his old man out. Ethel Griffies is splendid as the haunted (and hunted) Mrs. Nodbury, Truman Bradley sinister as a pipe-smoking captain, George Reeves breezy as a suspect. I especially liked the quietly neurasethenic performance of Milton Parsons as a Boston Brahmin on vacation, trying to overcome a recent nervous breakdown. He picked one hell of a vacation spot! Highly recommended for fans of maritime mysteries, treasure maps, talking parrots and nocturnal strolls around creaking, fogbound wharves.